Slashdot Mirror
French ISPs Ordered To Block Sci-Hub, LibGen (torrentfreak.com)
The High Court of Paris has ordered several of the largest French ISPs to block access to the pirate libraries LibGen and Sci-Hub. "The decision is a setback for the sites that have come under increasing pressure, but Sci-Hub founder Alexandra Elbakyan believes that determined researchers are smart enough to find an alternative route to her site," reports TorrentFreak. From the report: Following a complaint from academic publishers Elsevier and Springer Nature, Internet providers Bouygues, Free, Orange, and SFR have been ordered (PDF) to block access to Sci-Hub and LibGen sites for the year to come. In its decision, picked up by Next INpact, the French court ruled that the two sites "clearly claim to be pirate platforms rejecting the principle of copyright and bypassing publishers' subscription access portals."
The court order targets a total of 57 domain names, including various mirror sites. The academic publishers had asked the court for a more flexible blocklist, which they could update whenever new domains would become available, but this was denied. If the publishers want to expand the blocklist, they will have to go back to court. This ensures that there remains judicial oversight over local website blockades. Also, a request for a specific IP-address block was denied. The court sided with the ISPs, who argued that they should have the freedom to choose their own blocking method, including DNS blocking. That does mean, however, that the ISPs will also have to bear the costs. "The blockade will have some effect, though not very profound," says Sci-Hub founder Alexandra Elbakya. "The people who are using Sci-Hub because they need access to research can still unblock it using VPN, TOR and etc."
The court order targets a total of 57 domain names, including various mirror sites. The academic publishers had asked the court for a more flexible blocklist, which they could update whenever new domains would become available, but this was denied. If the publishers want to expand the blocklist, they will have to go back to court. This ensures that there remains judicial oversight over local website blockades. Also, a request for a specific IP-address block was denied. The court sided with the ISPs, who argued that they should have the freedom to choose their own blocking method, including DNS blocking. That does mean, however, that the ISPs will also have to bear the costs. "The blockade will have some effect, though not very profound," says Sci-Hub founder Alexandra Elbakya. "The people who are using Sci-Hub because they need access to research can still unblock it using VPN, TOR and etc."
It's pre-Gutenberg in science land. If you don't have a backer with deep pockets, scientific materials are out of reach.
is there any reason to create the sort of roadblocks and barriers in front of valuable research
Honest answer: it's part of a bigger problem. If you want a job, you need to publish papers. If you want to publish papers, you have to do it in the major journals. It's called 'publish or perish' and it is killing academic science. But a lot of people in charge are too damned lazy to do anything about it, even though everyone with two brain cells to rub together knows it is terrible.
So people do it because they have to. If you do the right thing, if you take a stand and refuse to play that game, you will not be rewarded for it. Someone else will get the job. Sad fact of the matter.
The journals meanwhile are all too willing to play ball, and charge obscene fees for the papers that are published in the journals. They surely know the stupid culture of science that enables this, so they've got a lot of people kind of backed into a corner here.
If that sounds stupid to you, that's because it is. But that's why it happens.